Almost half a million journalists in the EU

Almost one million persons were employed as authors, journalists or linguists in the European Union (EU) in 2017. Almost half of these were journalists (0.4 million persons, or 0.2% of total employment). Compared to five years ago, the number of journalists in the EU increased by 38 thousand (or + 10%).

Overall, 1.2 million persons (or 0.5% of total employment) were employed in publishing activities, such as publication of newspapers, magazines and journals, while close to half a million (0.4 million, or 0.2% of total employment) were employed in other information service activities, such as data processing, hosting web sites, or working in news agencies.

Highest share of journalists in Estonia and Sweden, lowest in Slovakia and Poland

Data on the number of journalists in 2017 were available for 18 EU Member States, namely Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Estonia, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Hungary, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

Of these countries, the highest share of journalists was recorded in Estonia and Sweden (both 0.5% of total employment), ahead of the Netherlands, Finland and Germany (all above 0.3%). Slovakia* and Poland were at the opposite end of the scale (both 0.1%), followed by Italy, the Czech Republic, Belgium, France, Hungary and Luxembourg* (all below 0.2%).